BILL NUMBER: SB 1108	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   986
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 10, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 9, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JUNE 23, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Perata, Burton, Figueroa, and Rainey
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Aroner, Bock, Corbett, Dutra, Leach,
and Torlakson)

                        FEBRUARY 26, 1999

   An act relating to state funds, and making an appropriation
therefor.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1108, Perata.  State funds:  appropriations.
   (1) Existing law provides for state funding for various
governmental activities and public programs.
   This bill would appropriate $6,970,000 from the General Fund, to
be allocated in part in specified amounts to the City of Los Angeles
Department of Parks and Recreation for renovation work at the
Griffith Observatory, to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for
the Plaza de la Raza for at-risk youth mentoring and the Orange
County TracKRS Program, to the California Arts Council for allocation
to the Los Angeles Children's Museum and to the Hollywood
Entertainment Museum, to the County of Los Angeles Local Agency
Formation Commission for a secession study for the Harbor Area, and
to the Department of Parks and Recreation to maintain a unit in the
state parks system that serves a specified purpose.
   (2) Existing law, Chapter 950 of the Statutes of 1998,
appropriated a sum not to exceed $5,000,000 to the Chabot Observatory
and Science Center, a joint powers agency created by the City of
Oakland, the Oakland Unified School District, and the East Bay
Regional Park District, to fund the completion of a new Chabot
Observatory and Science Center facility and its science education
programs.  That law also appropriated a sum not to exceed $2,000,000
to the town of Apple Valley to administer a grant to the nonprofit
High Desert "Partnership in Academic Excellence" Foundation to
provide classroom and laboratory space for the Lewis Center for Earth
Science.
   This bill would allocate $1,000,000 of the $6,970,000
appropriation made by the bill to the California Arts Council for
allocation to the Chabot Observatory and Science Center to help fund
the completion of this facility and an additional $1,000,000 of that
appropriation to the town of Apple Valley to administer a grant to
the foundation to provide classroom and laboratory space for the
Lewis Center for Earth Science.  The bill would also require the
Legislative Analyst to review and to prepare and submit a report to
the Legislature on its findings regarding the use of those funds
appropriated to the centers pursuant to Chapter 950 of the Statutes
of 1998.  The bill would require the centers to submit a report to
the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance,
as specified, as a condition of receiving funds appropriated by this
bill.
   (3) The Budget Act of 1999 appropriated $1,000,000 to the
California Arts Council for allocation to the Japanese-American
National Museum, subject to specified conditions.
   This bill would impose additional conditions on the expenditure of
these funds.
   Appropriation:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) The historic Chabot Observatory began as a public observatory
in downtown Oakland, serving Oakland citizens and the greater bay
area community, and through its programs has welcomed and educated
over two million visitors since 1883.
   (b) In the early 20th century, the observatory was administered by
the Oakland Unified School District which made the facility an
integral part of formal science education programs and also made it
available for a large public program.
   (c) The current Chabot Observatory and Science Center facility,
consisting of a 1915-era observatory building, a separate
planetarium, and several temporary classrooms and laboratories,
severely limits the science center's ability to fulfill the vision
for science education due to technological and structural safety
issues, including its location directly on an active rift of the
Hayward Fault and the interference from surrounding city lights that
have encroached in the years since the observatory's construction and
affect viewing through its historic 8-inch and 20-inch public
telescopes.
   (d) In 1989, Oakland's interest in having a regional science
center that was responsive to the science education needs of its
children and neighboring communities led to the creation of a joint
powers agency by the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School
District, and the East Bay Regional Park District, and these partner
agencies have together contributed over $25,600,000 to this project.

   (e) The vision of the new Chabot Observatory and Science Center is
to create the nation's premier model for teaching science and
technologies, where one can imagine, understand, and learn to shape
the future through science.
   (f) The goals of the observatory and science center are as
follows:
   (1) To present more effective and engaging ways for children and
adults to explore science and technology.
   (2) To train teachers in science education's best practices and
new teaching technologies, and equip them with resources to use these
in the classroom.
   (3) To inspire students and their families to pursue higher levels
of scientific literacy.
   (4) To demonstrate the relevance of science and technology in
everyday living.
   (5) To link the center with other similar organizations, via
telecommunications and the Internet, to support a dynamic statewide
science education platform.
   (g) California's youth must be science literate and comfortable
with technology to be competitive job seekers, and it is widely
recognized that the quality of science, mathematics, and
environmental education needs to be improved in California and
nationwide, and that there are endemic cycles of low achievement that
persist in many high minority enrolled public schools, low-income
neighborhoods, rural areas, and historically underrepresented groups.

   (h) These deficiencies are particularly pressing in the diverse
San Francisco Bay area, where the growth in science- and
technology-related industries has created an enormous demand for
educated, skilled workers.
   (i) Many respected researchers have demonstrated the need for a
fundamental shift in methods of science teaching to emphasize
curriculum that is project-based, anchored in a "real world context,"
discovery oriented, and interdisciplinary, and the education of
teachers must be approached in a different way to reflect new
approaches to curriculum, activities, and student needs.
   (j) The educational programs of the Chabot Observatory and Science
Center complement and supplement the school district's efforts to
implement a more effective educational model by offering a wide range
of programs and resources that schools and school districts cannot
provide on their own.  The science center will create effective
statewide platforms for testing and evaluating distance learning,
performance-based education, collaborative learning, and new
experimental methods for education in the 21st century.
   (k) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center places a major
emphasis on engaging populations that are historically not well
represented in science and technology education, including women,
minorities, and low-income youth.
   (l) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center has planned to build
a new 77,000 square foot science education center in the Joaquin
Miller Park of Oakland, to fulfill these goals and offer new programs
for the people of the bay area.
   (m) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center has raised over
$47,400,000 to build a new science education center, including a
$17,500,000 grant from the United States Air Force Office of
Scientific Research.  In recognition of its national significance,
the Chabot Observatory and Science Center has been named a community
affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, one of eight in the
country.  Moreover, in conjunction with the White House Millennium
Celebration Project, the Chabot Observatory and Science Center will
link the nation's 30 Challenger Centers as the lead for a national
student project on Mars exploration.
   (n) The citizens of Oakland in 1996 voted approval for $6,500,000
for this new facility through the general obligation bond act known
as Measure I.
   (o) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center has raised over
$1,500,000 in peer-reviewed scientific grants, $785,000 from private
foundations, $800,000 from corporations, and over $1,500,000 from
individuals to support planning and design of this new science
education center.
   (p) This act will provide $1,000,000 in state funds for the Chabot
Observatory and Science Center, and will leverage new federal grant
money and a challenge grant from a private foundation that is
contingent on the state's contribution.  This funding will assist in
completion of the observatory's west building, which includes a
National Science Foundation funded solar system dynamics modeling
exhibition; a Challenger Center space mission simulator; the Teacher
Research and Training Center; the library, computer lab, and media
production studio; and the observatory's historic transit telescope.
A significant feature of the west building is the Virtual Science
Center, which enables classroom teachers throughout the state to call
on Chabot's telescopes, laboratories, and media resources for
everyday support in their classrooms.  In addition, this funding may
assist in the construction of three telescope observatories to house
the 8-inch refractor, the 20-inch refractor, and a 36-inch reflector,
the largest telescope open to the public on a regular basis in the
United States.
   (q) This new facility is scheduled to open in 1999, and will
include the magnificent historic Chabot telescopes; a new 36-inch
computerized telescope; a state-of-the-art planetarium; interactive
science exhibits for children, adults, and families; a Challenger
Center space station and mission control simulator; a telescope
makers' workshop; a fiber-optic linked multimedia center; a virtual
science center for continuous online access and education in homes,
communities, libraries, and schools; infrared technology for
multilingual programs; and flexible, integrated laboratory spaces for
science exploration and education.
   (r) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center will become the
California-based centerpiece institution for public astronomy and
science education in the country, and will contribute toward the
improvement of science education and technological literacy for
California students, teachers, and families.
   (s) The Lewis Center for Educational Research began as a public
educational facility under the Apple Valley Unified School District
in 1990 and has provided science education programs for over 80,000
students throughout southern California during its eight years of
operation.  The center is home to a California public school,
kindergarten through 12th grade, operated by the High Desert
"Partnership in Academic Excellence" Foundation, Incorporated (the
foundation), a nonprofit educational foundation.
   (t) Five hundred students attend science, astronomy, and aviation
classes at the 11,000 square foot Lewis Center facility.  Students
can attend ground school and fly the T-40 Jet Flight Simulator
provided by the United States Air Force.  Students also learn
computer skills in the Gateway to Excellence Program sponsored by
GTE, and work in the greenhouse or study physics in the laboratory.
   (u) In partnership with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in Pasadena, the Lewis Center operates the DSS 12, a deep space
antenna located at the Goldstone Deep Space Tracking Station.  This
$11,000,000 antenna was converted into a radio telescope for the
Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope project (GAVRT).  Students
from across California and the nation direct this powerful scientific
instrument by remote control via telecommunications through "Mission
Control" housed at the Lewis Center.  Staff from the Lewis Center
and JPL train teachers from all areas of the United States to perform
scheduled missions with their students, providing interactive
opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and locations to
work together via telecommunications to study the wonders of the
heavens.
   (v) The Lewis Center observatory, with its 14-inch telescope
provides optical viewing to support the work of radio astronomers.
The center operates a telescope on Mount Wilson by remote control
through the Telescopes in Education Program.  The center's growing
expertise in remote operations of scientific equipment and status as
the worldwide educational site for kindergarten through 12th grade,
inclusive, radio astronomy will provide a powerful statewide linkage
to the Chabot Observatory and Science Center.
   (w) The vision of the new Chabot Observatory and Science Center
and the Lewis Center for Educational Research is to create the nation'
s premier model for teaching science and technologies, where one can
imagine, understand, and learn to shape the future through science.
   (x) The goals of these two observatories and science centers are
as follows:
   (1) To present more effective and engaging ways for children and
adults to explore science and technology.
   (2) To train teachers in science education's best practices and
new teaching technologies, and equip them with resources to use these
in the classroom.
   (3) To inspire students and their families to pursue higher levels
of scientific literacy.
   (4) To demonstrate the relevance of science and technology in
everyday living.
   (5) To electronically link these two innovative science centers
together, and to link these centers with other similar organizations,
via telecommunications and the Internet, to support a dynamic
statewide science education platform.
   (y) California's youth must be science literate and comfortable
with technology to be competitive jobseekers, and it is widely
recognized that the quality of science, mathematics, and
environmental education needs to be improved in California and
nationwide, and that there are endemic cycles of low achievement that
persist in many high minority enrolled public schools, low-income
neighborhoods, rural areas, and historically underrepresented groups.

   (z) The educational programs of the Chabot Observatory and Science
Center and the Lewis Center for Educational Research complement and
supplement the school district's efforts to implement a more
effective educational model by offering a wide range of programs and
resources that schools and school districts cannot provide on their
own.  These science centers will create effective statewide platforms
for testing and evaluating distance learning, performance-based
education, collaborative learning, and new experimental methods for
education in the 21st century.
   (aa) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center and the Lewis
Center for Educational Research place a major emphasis on engaging
populations that are historically not well represented in science and
technology education, including women, minorities, and low-income
youth.
   (ab) The Lewis Center for Educational Research plans to purchase
land and build a second facility, the Lewis Center for Earth Science.
  The location of the new building will take advantage of an
environmentally rich portion of the Mojave River that is a
destination for numerous migratory birds to provide students with
onsite capability to study planet Earth up close.  A large portion of
the proposed tract of land will provide a preserve for native
species in a highly unique biome of southern California.
   (ac) The new facility will be linked electronically to the Lewis
and Chabot observatories to allow students from around the state to
work collaboratively studying the environment of our home planet to
compare and contrast the differences and similarities of objects
within our solar system and those of deep space.
   (ad) The Lewis Center's current facility has been funded from
community and business donations and other partnerships, including an
$850,000 grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban
Development and $500,000 contributed from the foundation.  In 1998,
the Lewis Center received a $1,500,000 special purpose grant from
NASA for teacher training, curriculum development, and student
programs through GAVRT.  The new facility will leverage funding
provided by these partnerships.
   (ae) The new Lewis Center for Earth Science will include a
planetarium, theater, classrooms, greenhouse, aviary, outdoor
research areas, and remote sensing devices including television
cameras to view the nocturnal creatures that inhabit this area.  The
expansion will enable 3,000 students per month to participate in
field trip activities, and classes and will enable thousands more to
participate online.  A new mobile planetarium, telescope, and
computer center will travel from the Lewis Center to schoolsites for
a four-day intensive infusion of science and teaching strategies
involving teachers, students, and families.
   (af) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center and the Lewis
Center for Earth Science will become California-based centerpiece
institutions for public astronomy and science education in the
country, and will contribute toward the improvement of science
education and technological literacy for California students,
teachers, and families.
  SEC. 2.  (a) The sum of six million nine hundred seventy thousand
dollars ($6,970,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to
be allocated as follows:
   (1) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the California Arts
Council for the Chabot Observatory and Science Center, a joint powers
agency created by the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School
District, and the East Bay Regional Park District, to help fund the
completion of the new Chabot Observatory and Science Center facility
in Oakland for the people of the state.
   (2) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the town of Apple Valley
to administer a grant to the nonprofit High Desert "Partnership in
Academic Excellence" Foundation, Incorporated, to provide classroom
and laboratory space for the Lewis Center for Earth Science.
   (3) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the City of Los Angeles
Department of Parks and Recreation for renovation work at the
Griffith Observatory.
   (4) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the Office of Criminal
Justice Planning for the Plaza de la Raza for at-risk youth
mentoring.
   (5) Two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) to the Office of
Criminal Justice Planning for the Orange County TracKRS Program.
   (6) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the California Arts
Council for allocation to the Los Angeles Children's Museum.
   (7) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the California Arts
Council for allocation to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.
   (8) Three hundred twenty thousand dollars ($320,000) to the County
of Los Angeles Local Agency Formation Commission for the purposes of
conducting a secession study for the Harbor Area.
   (9) Four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) to the Department of
Parks and Recreation to maintain a unit of the state parks system
that preserves and restores cultural and historical resources in
northern California related to immigration into this state.
  SEC. 3.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the funds
appropriated for capital improvements to the Japanese-American
National Museum pursuant to Item 8260-103-001 of Section 2 of Chapter
50 of the Statutes of 1999 shall be expended for design or
construction of facilities or for exhibits, furniture, equipment, or
acquisitions, or all of these, for the Media Arts Center, the
Orientation Theater, and the National Resource Center.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including Section
7550.5 of the Government Code, the Legislative Analyst shall review
the use of funds appropriated to the Chabot Observatory and Science
Center and the new Lewis Center for Earth Science pursuant to Chapter
950 of the Statutes of 1998 and shall prepare and submit a report to
the Legislature by January 10, 2000, on its findings regarding the
use of these funds.
   (c) As a condition of receiving funds appropriated by this act and
notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, both the
Chabot Observatory and Science Center and the new Lewis Center for
Earth Science shall submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee and the Department of Finance on their expenditure of the
funds appropriated by this act not more than 60 days after completion
of their respective facilities.
